Posts Tagged ‘ferrari sales’

With the New York Stock Exchange symbol RACE, one might expect a new stock to take off like, well, a Ferrari Formula One race car – and that’s precisely what happened as the Italian automaker launched its long-awaited IPO.

Ferrari’s first-day surge was all the more impressive considering its stock initially was priced at $52, at the upper end of the anticipated offering. While RACE shares didn’t quite have the explosive power of a Google IPO, they still managed to end Wednesday trading at $55. And that gives the exclusive sports car company a market value of $10.4 billion.

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The strong reception was especially welcome on Wall Street at a time when several other closely-watched IPOs, including Digicel Group Ltd., were either canceled or postponed or delivered weaker-than-expected results.

Ferrari unveiled the new 488 Spider at the Frankfurt Motor Show last month.

The new Ferrari 488 Spider will launch you from 0 to 60 in barely three seconds. Now, parent Fiat Chrysler is hoping Ferrari itself will burn rubber when it launches trading on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday.

The trans-Atlantic automaker recently announced plans to sell off a 10% stake in Ferrari at somewhere between $48 and $52 a share, the actually price set to be announced today. That’s a fair bit higher than many analysts had expected when plans for an IPO were first announced last year – and that reflects FCA’s optimism that the Ferrari brand will become one of the rare gotta-have automotive stocks.

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There are plenty of reasons to be optimistic. As many Wall Street traders might tell you, there’s a long waiting line for Ferrari sports cars, something the Italian maker hopes to tap with a modest rise in production. And it is betting it can tap into booming global demand for luxury goods through new licensing agreements that could land the brand’s prancing pony logo on a variety of upscale products.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has launched the long-awaited Initial Public Offering of its Ferrari brand.

As part of what it says will be a “series of transactions to separate Ferrari from FCA,” the maker said Monday it expects to price the exotic sports carmaker’s shares at between $48 and $52 apiece. That would value the entire company at about $9.8 billion – slightly less than the $12 billion some industry analysts had been expecting.

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FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne had long resisted a spin-off of the Ferrari brand, but apparently relented as it became apparent the trans-Atlantic automaker needed cash to fund future product development programs for its other U.S. and European brands.

FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne and former Ferrari CEO Luca di Montezemolo both celebrated the launch of the $1 million Ferrari Enzo ultra-car.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles could launch the eagerly awaited initial public offering of its Ferrari brand as early as Friday, according to various industry reports.

The move could generate as much as $1 billion in much-needed revenue for FCA, but it also raises some serious questions about the future of the ultra-exclusive Ferrari. A debate over how much to grow the brand last year resulted in the ouster of long-time CEO Luca di Montezemolo, who favored a go-slow approach.

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FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne has wanted to take more advantage of Ferrari’s image in the global luxury market, however, and is expected not only to push for faster growth of the brand’s luxury cars, but also to license its prancing pony logo for a broader range of upscale goods.

New Ferrari Chairman Sergio Marchionne, sitting on the hood of a new LaFerrari, plans to increase the number of Ferrari's built annually by 45%.

Just a few short days after a shake up at the top of Ferrari that saw Luca di Montezemolo’s departure, it appears change will not be limited to personnel but also will include strategy.

Reports suggest that new chairman Sergio Marchionne plans to reverse course on the company’s previous course of restricting production levels of Ferraris to inflate their value and see that jump hit the Italian maker’s bottom line.

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Multiple media reports suggest that Marchionne plans to increase the company’s production levels by nearly 45%: from 7,000 vehicles to 10,000. In the past, di Montezemolo kept production low because he feared oversaturating the market. (more…)

Whether it’s the result of a booming stock market, the overall economy or other factors, the rich are getting behind the wheel of some of the world’s most expensive automobiles at a record pace – so much so that one manufacturer has put a limit on production to maintain its exclusivity.

As expensive as a Rolls-Royce or Bentley might be “off the rack,” the premium luxury carmakers also report a record number of buyers are choosing to customize their vehicles, at times, doubling, even tripling the basic price tag.

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“There is no question that some markets will remain tough but we are confident of a good 2014,” said Kevin Rose, the board member overseeing sales, service and marketing at Britain’s Bentley Motors.

Ferrari is cutting jobs and idling a key plant in Maranello, though the blame is largely due to problems at Maserati.

What happened to the waiting list?

For as long as memory serves, Ferrari has boasted about its long waiting list of buyers, including many willing to shell out thousands of dollars just to move ahead in line. Prior to the current economic downturn, the Italian maker claimed its average model was as much as three years on back order.

No longer. With problems at its sibling Maserati division complicating matters, Ferrari is downgrading its sales estimates for the year to just 11,000 vehicles for the two brands, compared to the original 20,000 car forecast. In turn, the maker, a subsidiary of Fiat, is planning to cut jobs and idle some of its plants.

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About 120 office workers will lose their jobs, along with 150 plant employees, the maker says. Meanwhile, a plant at its headquarters, in Maranello, near Modena, will close for a week, impacting another 600 employees.

Ferrari officials say their lead brand is reasonably healthy and that there still remains strong demand for many models, such as the $228,000 Ferrari California. But the big issue is Maserati, where sales have continued to slip despite optimistic forecasts and the expansion of the model line-up.

In 2008, Ferrari produced 9,000 engines for the less expensive brand, a figure that fell by half last year. And current trends suggest Maserati will be down even more for 2010 without a sudden upturn in demand.

That’s a problem for both makers, as Ferrari not only has a financial stake in Maserati but uses its plants to produce engines and other key components for models like the Quattroporte.

“Ferrari has to respond to market demands that rise and fall in an ever less-predictable fashion,” noted a company statement outlining the company’s planned cuts.

First quarter profits fell 28%, to $50 million, after a 30% decline last year.

A new five-year plan for Ferrari and Maserati, outlined by Fiat Chairman Sergio Marchionne last month, remained upbeat, forecasting that by 2014 the two brands will be able to double revenues, to around $5 billion, by expanding their respective model line-ups.